kingsquestfandomcom-20200216-history
Pun
Puns are a type of joke and humor often associated with the King's Quest series. Background It appears specifically with the early games (largely starting with KQ2), The King's Quest Companion and the reboot series, and guides and hint books. Puns appear in the titles of the games, sometimes in the dialogue, and often with the death commentary. An article in InterAction noted puns have been in the DNA of the series; :...the world of Daventry, an enchanted place populated by familiar characters from well-known myths, fairy tales, and folklore. Its Piers Anthony landscape is filled with delightful puns and wordplays, and life-and-death encounters lie around each turn in the road. It's a world where dragons, witches, mermaids, and magicians roam, where the supernatural is commonplace, and you are rewarded for using your wits rather than tor slaughtering everything in your path. Puns are one of the ways the games provide their storybook atmosphere. In KQ1AGI there is an example of one of the earliest death pun messages in the series (in reference to saying 'good night' when someone goes to 'bed'; :"You have slipped down the muddy bank and lodged in the river's bed. Good knight." KQ2 was the first game with a noticeable pun in the game's title, and also included at least one pun in an easter egg: Introducting Graham's last name as "Cracker". KQ3 is the first game to have a character who liked to pun in the form of Manannan, who had a pun or wisecrack for every "pun"-ishment he dished out on Gwydion. KQ1SCI remake and KQ5 added many puns to the games death messages. Of the old series KQ6 is filled with the most puns (including a region devoted to puns Pun Garden, and many inhabitants of the island in general); :The inhabitants of The Isle of Wonder, which is full of visual puns and nonsense...KQ7Authorized Guide, pg :In our world where the wondrous is commonplace; the wordplays made live, the garden of puns, and the point of exclamation are considered strange beyond the ordinary.KQC3E, pg : The narrator however offered puns in many other locations as well, often when attempting to use items in wrong way or trying to talk to random scenery or objects. For example "The window clearly has nothing to reflect upon at this time." Then followed by KQ7, with many more death puns, and other characters who pun (including the ghoul kids, and their delightfully morbid puns). In the reboot series its directly incorporated into the plot as Graham uses them a lot and tries to get his granddaughter to open up and enjoy a good pun herself since it can take the edge off serious matters, and offer hope in times of sadness. Puns are even included in some of the KQ related spin off materials such Hoyle 1 (Knight School) and King's Questions, and The King's Quest Companion, and the various hint books. Titles The majority of the games titles are designed around puns based on movies or popular idioms. This is most noticeably starting with King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne, which was a pun based on Romancing the Stone. This practice was maintained up to at least King's Quest VII which took its name from the film The Princess Bride. There is still debate on if Quest for the Crown (a name retroactively added to KQ1 with a later rerelease) or Mask of Eternity are intended to be true puns or reference to something else. As far as the novels go, only the third novel See No Weevil chose to have a pun. KQ7 also uses puns in the name of each chapter title. The reboot King's Quest uses puns in the titles for each chapter, but not the entire game itself. Characters Occasionally characters names are puns. Such as the wicked Hagatha, or Icebella, Antony the Great, and Beetrice. Behind the scenes Piers Anthony was the writer of the Companions of Xanth series which is fantasy series known for its wordplays and puns much like Terry Pratchet's Discworld series. References Category:Humor Category:Game development Category:philosophies Category:Puns